Just discovered this and glad it sounds as if the situation is in hand. Very glad to hear that and hope they let you out soon.
Yesterday we had a friend over for brunch who'd never met him. We alluded to him. Lilly said, out of nowhere, "his heart stopped and he died" and she went back to drawing. She doesn't fully get it, yet, of course. I was thinking about this last night and realize that the person who would most appreciate her directness is of course Robert.
Everywhere we turn in our apartment there is some sign of Robert. In the refrigerator is most of the six-pack of Dr. Brown's Cel-Ray I always kept on hand, knowing he enjoyed it. On the shelves -- many books he provided one way or the other. On our computer I've got one entire folder marked mp3s from Robert for the last time he was over, a few weeks ago, to download a batch. (I received an iPod for Xmas. He downloaded 700 tunes onto it; everything I listen to, every morning, he picked.)
In our daughter Lilly's room there are two things immediately evident that he gave her -- one a very goofy plastic toy chihuahua vaguely reminiscent of our own real one, and the other a very nice doll in pink hat and sweater that he gave to Lilly either last May or the one before, for her birthday -- I wish I could remember -- that had belonged to his mother, and he wanted her to have it. It's all I can do to keep from crying, right now.
Valeria, Lilly and I have lost one of our dearest friends, and I've lost one of my closest ones. There was nobody better.
Dave, have you heard RWV's "The Lark Ascending"? If not, you may want to give that one a try -- the central theme has enough of a melodic structure that I can whistle it, and it does at least build, climax, and diminish.
"Fantasia" is (to my ears) magnificent but more impressionistic, yes. That is to say, as Teresa has noticed -- it wanders.
As for Tallis, his "Spem in Alium" is the only piece of music that invariably sends this particular agnostic into religious ecstacy (well, that and "Venus in Furs"), so if you haven't listened to that one, it's well worth a try. It also starts somewhere.
My favorite version of Lark is Pinchas Zuckerman's rendition on DG but most any will do to give the general idea. Granted, I like it well enough that I've told my wife it's the one piece of music I want played at my funeral (no rush) so I am prejudiced...
Horrible news. I never saw Mike often enough, but each time I did it was an enormous pleasure. Kept track of him through our mutual friends, and of course through his comments here. One of the nicest and smartest people I've ever met.
Godspeed, Mike, and if it is possible, I hope to see you again someday.
As a reader, I can only imagine what the Jonathan Franzen comments sections are going to sound like, shortly. As a publicist, I can only say: God, kill me now. As a writer, I'll be right with you as soon as I have finished my retort to ThinkingAmmerican148.
No argument with Moxie here, and a fine cocktail can actually be made with it:
1 12 oz. glass, half full with ice, crushed or cubes
2 oz. golden rum, 120 proof preferred
1/2 oz. pomegranate juice
1 oz. lime
Fill to top with Moxie; stir
Rub lime zest around rim of glass
Ecco: the Roxy.
The gentian flavor most find objectionable in Moxie disappears, somehow, and even non-fans tend to be surprised. Or, at least not horrified.
Diet Moxie is indeed enjoyed only by those possessing the Innsmouth Look.
For real horror, try what I discovered to be the preferred drink of Buenos Aires: Coca-Cola and Fernet Branca. Have always been tempted to try Moxie and Fernet (just brought back a case of the former from Maine), but so far -- I hesitate.
Turned 50 myself in January, so far so good.
Happy birthday!!
Excerpts of a letter sent to a UK friend this morning. Feel the need to get it out there -- and so, not blogging myself, I thank P & T for allowing this outlet to be here --
Hi Paul,
Said this to Bill, this morning:
>I look at this non-reality-based crowd in power and I was reminded, yesterday, of the Men In Black -- not the more recent movie-related figures but the originals, the UFO MIB -- the ones who were simultaneously overbearing, wildly threatening, utterly incapable of some things and always slightly off -- the ones warning that your entire family will be killed if they decide to kill them, the ones wearing freshly-pressed suits fashionable three years earlier and brand new 1948 Buick Roadmasters; the ones who ask "what are birthdays?" as they try to drink Jello. I think the Men In Black are in control. I think they're going to make Argentina look good.
Have never been more disgusted in my life than when I woke up this morning and heard the Mayor of NO pleading for soldiers to come in, even as the visuals were of what might be chemical plants -- they don't know, for sure -- exploding and burning. Meanwhile one administration flak was quoted on CNN as saying that Bush would be going to the coast region near Biloxi to "show concern and that the government is on the job." Taking a helicopter flight over N.O. supposedly but considering that they were shooting at all helicopters yesterday, that strikes me as unlikely -- as unlikely as his actually going anywhere NO ever, himself.
(As I recall, toward the end of the campaign in 1932, Hoover was no longer able to go out in public for campaign appearances -- there was a genuine threat that Depression-stricken crowds would swarm the train and kill him -- I'm sure they've studied that much history, at least, since employing simple common sense is clearly beyond any of them.)
Rice cut short her vacation yesterday and headed back to DC, to meet with the reps of foreign nations offering the help her boss said "we wouldn't need" yesterday, or the day before -- the similarities between this gang and Brezhnev's USSR are also remarkable...
In the Times this morning:
>>While his agency is facing harsh criticism, Patrick Rhode, FEMA's deputy director, defended its performance as "probably one of the most efficient and effective responses in the country's history."
>>He recalled that after Mr. Brown, his boss, returned from his tsunami
>>tour, he asked if the United States was better prepared for a disaster
>>than the ravaged countries he had visited. "We felt relatively
>>comfortable that this country could mobilize the response necessary,"
>>he said
The head of FEMA, old pal of Bush and former lawyer for the International Arabian Horse Association or whatever the hell it is, spent his time yesterday making one TV appearance after another, saying that everything is under control and everyone is getting food and water...*even as every news channel including Fox is reporting, and showing, otherwise*
Also in the Times this morning:
>>White House officials, already sensitive that Mr. Bush is suffering the lowest approval ratings of his presidency and under pressure to manage a catastrophe of what they called biblical proportions, reacted with frustration.
>>"Seventy-two hours into this, to be openly posturing about this, to be attacking the president, is not only despicable and wrong, it's not politically smart," said one White House official who asked not to be named because he did not want to be seen as talking about the crisis in political terms. "Normal people at home understand that it's not the president who's responsible for this, it's the hurricane. This will get better, hour by hour and day by day."
As if it's been getting better, hour by hour, the first five days. "It's not politically smart." They can't ever say anything without a threat. As said, Men In Black or the Politburo -- you decide.
Cheney, as it happens, is on vacation, it was announced yesterday. The rumor is (and trying to really figure out the actual goings-on in the Administration is, again, like Kremlinology)that he has had a heart attack and that as such, the real *leader* of the country is out of commission, which is why they're literally running around like chickens with their heads cut off. Can you believe that such can come over the aether and you find yourself actually *weighing the likelihood?*
And otherwise -- not much of anything done overnight, save for the fact that they've announced that realistically, the Astrodome can only safely hold 11,000, and not 25,000 refugees (and those are lined cot to cot, and nearly head-to-head, packed onto the field. Seeing the visual I was reminded of the old diagrams of how slave ships were stocked). Some hospitals have apparently been evacuated.
Meanwhile, a number of the usual suspects are already trying to take pre-emptive strikes to prevent their big number one from being taken away:
>>Do some on the anti-war left have to keep minimizing what happened on 9/11?
That's gay Tory Andrew Sullivan, formerly editor of the New Republic, upon noting a left of center site noting that this is going to be much bigger than 9/11 in terms of its immediate effect on people. This isn't going to go very far, either, though. *One million refugees.* And the place from where they've been driven uninhabitable now and possibly in the future. The place being the entryway to the Mississippi River and the fifth largest port in the world. Near which most of the US's oil is refined and a good part of it drilled, all now interrupted.
And all they can say is "don't take my 9/11 away from me!"
Depending upon the reaction of the people -- whose reactions I have to say I am in doubt about -- what takes place in the next few days, few weeks, and after, will show the true nature of the country as it stands today (as we've seen the true nature of the administration, repeatedly):
Will the people of the US swing around to the notion being proffered by the Administration (and by its enablers -- James Carville, the Democrat, has pretty much said the same thing; which is more than most Democrats have said, those being pretty much invisible throughout this)i.e. that the people who died in NO died because they chose to stay there? Ergo, *they deserved it?*
Or do they need to be swung -- are they already there?
Needless to say I've seen no polls on this, because we're getting back, with this, to the ever-present heart of the American matter: if the population left behind was predominantly white, would they even be trying to use this reasoning so fervently? Will the public say, in so many words -- well, they *are* black -- so --
I hope not, but I would not be surprised. That would, though, confirm me in the remainder of my worst beliefs about human nature (having been confirmed now as to what would likely happen, if a city is for all intents and purposes suddenly cut off from the rest of the world).
Lisbon earthquake, indeed.
Lime rickeys!
The other place in Manhattan that still sells them (that I'm sure about) is not so preserved in amber as Eisenberg's. However, I actually watched the miraculous transformation of the Mill Candy Shop into the Mill Korean Restaurant (Broadway just below 113th) over the course of a decade.
Briefly:
1979: Mill Candy Shop. Space last painted probably right after the war. Dented wire paperback & comic revolving racks. Wall rack of mags, half porn. Small lunch counter with soda fountain, stools and grease-coated backbar/grill area. A couple of tables with tape-repaired chairs. Front counter with wooden register, slots for candy, i.e. Goldberg's Peanut Chews, Choward's Violet Gum etc.; all candy needs dusting. Owners: elderly couple, husband wears sleeves rolled up, tattooed camp number clearly visible on his forearm. One young man (never the same for longer than two weeks in a row) working the counter. Lime rickeys and other soda treats served at counter fountain. All lit by front window light and a 40-watt bulb in lamp by register.
(In 1979 there were still probably a thousand places or more almost exactly like this in New York.)
c.1981: young Korean guy hired to work counter, doesn't leave.
c.1985: Owners retire; young Korean guy takes over the store from them.
c.1986: wire racks gone, interior painted, better lighting, cleaner, no porn in mag racks.
c.1987: Tables added. Magazine rack cut back to single rack. New stools at counter.
c.1988: Counter removed, all tables now. Menu has many more Korean items on it. Youngish Korean guy hiring waiters and waitresses.
1990: Tranformation complete with further remodeling (i.e. front candy counter, peanut chews etc. finally removed).
2005: Still in business as fine Korean restaurant owned by middle-aged Korean guy and the only one in town where you can get a fresh-made lime rickey with your bibimbap. It's good, too.
Just last week I needed to write up and provide what could once have passed as an old-style Soviet Official Invitation from HarperCollins for Terry Pratchett to provide to DHS folks in the UK, to facilitate his entry into the USA for BEA.
Think about that.
Coliseum is there on W. 42nd (close to where a branch of Bookmasters, many years ago, once was) and seems to be doing OK. It's a much different space than they had at their old store (which was, prior to Coliseum, a car dealership)and definitely hasn't accreted the psychic aura Broadway & 57th possessed.
From the point of view of one who worked there as a manager for two and a half years eighties -- "chaos," yes, that word came often to mind; "whimsy," not so much. I remember the two cashiers who got into a fight with scissors during the 5 PM changeover, the night clerk who threatened to kill me when I asked him to mop the floor (his day job was coke dealer, so his threat carried some weight), the staffer who hurled a drunken customer through the front door, which was closed at the time, the morning four of us got into a tussle with a *different* drunken customer who didn't want to check his bag, and we wound up rolling on the floor....am trying to recall why I got out of retail, after working there...
>>"It's like everyone is kicking her with extra savagery because they're all thinking 'if she suffers enough, maybe I won't be next.'"
Next what? Next to suffer through the burning off of a cool quarter million, minus agent's fees and the cost of freelance publicists?
Ah, Lee, happy to help out. Presented for your reading pleasure: "Historical Evidence for Unicorns." (Teresa, I think I have shown you this one as well.)
For those who may doubt, here we go -- as currently available from our friends at abebooks.com:
Radka, Larry Brian
Historical Evidence for Unicorns
Newport, DE, USA: Einhorn Press, 1995. Soft Cover. Very Good. Used. Signed by Author. 152 pages, B/W Photos & Illustrations. Clean, tight & bright, authors inscription on reverse of front cover. Contents include: Ancient Evidence-Sumerian, Egyptian, and Babylonian Unicorns; Godly Evidence-The Assyrians and the Unicorn Hunt; Assyrian, Persian, Greek, and Indian Unicorns; Medieval and more recent confirmations of Unicorns; The Unicorns that still Exist Today; The Hebrews; The True Biblical Unicorns. ISBN:0930401816 Bookseller Inventory #004792
Price: US$ 45.00 (Convert Currency)
Bookseller: Timeless Books, Sedona, AZ, U.S.A.
The author as you see employs pagan belief in support of Biblical theory, but hey, whatever works.
I'll further note that the price requested is as ridiculous as the book itself(I found my copy in the dollar bin at the Strand).
Popular cryptozoology can at least pose as a far more rigorous discipline, though it generally doesn't.
Can only refer (as I have done in the past) to one of my favorite books, "Biblical Dinosaurs," a sort of Burgess Shale variant creationist text -- it posits that the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel were, in fact, dinosaurs.
Those who doubt the existence of such an prime example of Unintelligent Design may go at once to abebooks.com and order:
Baker, Ronal J.
Biblical Dinosaurs
Klamath Falls, OR: Ronal J. Baker, 1988. Spiral binding/softcover. Very Good/No Jacket. Signed by Author. 4to - over 9e" - 12" tall. 324 pgs. + appendix. Bookseller Inventory #6998
Price: US$ 8.00 (Convert Currency)
Bookseller: Basin Book Trader, Klamath Falls, OR, U.S.A.
God bless us, everyone!
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